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Finding Meaning Through Transpersonal Approaches in Clinical Psychology: Assessments and Psychotherapies

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Finding Meaning Through Transpersonal Approaches in Clinical Psychology: Assessments and Psychotherapies International Journal of Existential Volume 5, Issue 1 July 2014 Psychology & Psychotherapy Finding Meaning Through Transpersonal Approaches in Clinical Psychology: Assessments and Psychotherapies Harris Friedman* Walden University Abstract Meaning is not a given, but constructed. Transpersonal psychology focuses on the interconnectedness of the person to that which can give meaning, such as relatedness to others, the world as encountered, and the cosmos as a whole. Clinical approaches to transpersonal psychology involve assessments and psychotherapies. Transpersonal assessments provide a basis for grounding meaning in some consensual realms, while transpersonal psychotherapies provide ways to further develop meaning, either to address psychopathology or encourage growth toward greater holism. Categories of transpersonal psychotherapies are identified, including attentional, biochemical, depth psychological, existential, and somatic, and some of their common features are explored in regard to creating and enhancing meaning. Meaning is not an ontological given, but rather appears more as a socio-psychological and cultural construction. It serves the external adaptive purpose of unifying actions and the internal adaptive purpose of unifying cognition and affect. Meaning also appears always positioned in a relational framework that involves grounding persons as interconnected with something other than the individual self, namely others, the world as encountered, and the cosmos as a whole. One way to conceptualize a basis for meaning is from the perspective of transpersonal psychology, which provides a way to understand meaning in consensual ways through transpersonal assessments and to enhance meaning through transpersonal psychotherapies. What is Transpersonal Psychology? Hartelius, Caplan, and Rardin (2007) studied numerous definitions of transpersonal psychology, and divided these, through using content analysis, into three themes. The first involves understanding persons as extending beyond ordinary conceptions of separateness by recognizing them as profoundly interconnected (including with other humans, the world of all living beings and non-living things, and ultimately the cosmos as a whole). The second involves employing a holistic integrative approach emphasizing that persons have transcendent capacities that defy materialistic limitations and can be seen as spiritual. The third involves psychological transformations in which the first two perspectives are applied to fostering individual and systems growth toward greater wholeness. Historically, transpersonal psychology evolved during the turbulent 1960s within the US from three social movements: multiculturalism (from increased exposure to non-Western spiritual traditions), psychedelic exploration (from expanding perceptions of reality), and rapid social change (from questioning authority). Initially, transpersonal psychology emphasized altered states of consciousness (gained from psychedelic and spiritual practices) and increased sense of empowerment (gained from social activism), and later sought to transform lives and the world. The founding of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology marked the beginning of the discipline of transpersonal psychology, and its first issue included Maslow’s (1969) attempt to define it. As one of the founders of humanistic psychology, Maslow later became dissatisfied with its human orientation, refocusing his interests in a cosmic-centered psychology in which interconnectedness became more important than the isolated human. My own transpersonal work similarly focused on an expanded sense of self-concept as a type of interconnectedness (Friedman, 1983), a central theme reflected by the work of many others (e.g., Walsh & Vaughan, 1993). My approach to self-expansiveness includes the study of individuals identifying with all possibilities existing within space-time, as well as that which might transcend space-time (e.g., Friedman, in press). Transpersonal psychology was and remains, however, somewhat of a pariah in modern academic circles, despite that mainstream psychology has accepted much of what transpersonal psychology first introduced. The area of www.existentialpsychology.org 45 International Journal of Existential Volume 5, Issue 1 July 2014 Psychology & Psychotherapy consciousness studies, for example, is now legitimate, but it was taboo when transpersonal psychology was among the first areas to take its study seriously. Transpersonal psychology also respectfully explored spiritual claims from various non- Western (e.g., Eastern and indigenous) cultures, which until recently mainstream psychology tended to denigrate as so- called “exotic” cultural beliefs, yet now multiculturalism is commonplace within mainstream psychology. Transpersonal psychology also challenged many limitations of the scientific method, and helped pioneer important methodological shifts, such as when qualitative approaches became more accepted, alongside quantitative approaches, within psychology. In many other areas, transpersonal psychology has led the mainstream into positive directions. However some approaches of transpersonal psychology have not yet been integrated into the mainstream. For example, transpersonal psychology proposed state-specific sciences (Tart, 1975), in which research can be legitimately gathered while researchers are in alternate consciousness states, a stance yet too radical for widespread acceptance. This approach, although seemingly out of bounds to many, may be more valid for studies in some contexts, such as involving exceptional experiences incomprehensible within Western cultural frameworks. Many traditional meditation systems use intense practices to alter consciousness, and have made cumulative internal observations that have consensually been refined and tested across millennia. Within these cultural contexts, these observations constitute empirically valid data, but derived from radically different types of science than customarily used within the West. Western meditation studies typically involve only beginners taught to meditate in short-term training of a few weeks or so, which contrasts with studies of those who have been practicing authentic spiritual traditions over most of their lifetimes. Consequently, state-specific methods that allow entrance into the worldview of those experiencing phenomena such as obtained via long-term meditation may actually be more scientifically appropriate than using conventional scientific approaches in these types of applications. In this regard, transpersonal psychology pioneered many human science methods involving alternative epistemological and ontological assumptions about knowing, as well as about the self as knower, but yet has a long way to go for wider acceptance (see Braud & Anderson, 1999). In addition, transpersonal psychology takes data from all spiritual, not just Western, traditions. This differentiates it from psychology of religion, which has primarily been focused on the Judeo-Christian tradition, and which tends to study demographics and other externals, rather than experience. The psychology of religion, even when studying non-Western traditions, still also tends to retain the cultural baggage of Western monotheistic assumptions, while transpersonal psychology provides ways to escape these cultural traps. However, transpersonal psychology can get into its own unique cultural traps by becoming overly enthusiastic about exotic traditions, such as by “going native” (Friedman, 2009; 2010). In this regard, it is crucial for transpersonal psychology to learn from various traditions, but in creative scientific ways that do not abandon science (see Friedman, 2002). Clinical Approaches to Transpersonal Psychology As can be seen from this discussion, constructing meaning involves relating to that which is larger than the individual, and transpersonal psychology provides an excellent way to frame meaning. The remainder of this paper focuses on clinical applications of transpersonal psychology toward enhancing understanding and change through assessments and psychotherapies. Transpersonal Assessments One area of clinical application in transpersonal psychology involves using assessment strategies, including measures. I have been involved in reviewing over 100 measures that have promise in this area (e.g., Friedman & MacDonald, 1997; MacDonald & Friedman, 2002), as well as have constructed my own measures (e.g., Friedman, 1983; Pappas & Friedman, 2012). It should be noted that some humanistic and transpersonal psychologists object to all assessment, especially when involving tests, dismissing them as useless or worse (e.g., seeing them as inherently reductionary and harmful); in contrast, I have written about their appropriate use in transpersonal contexts (Friedman & MacDonald, 2006). Relating explicitly to the area of meaning, one measure with which I have reviewed and worked is the Purpose of Life Test1 (Crumbaugh & Maholick, 1964). However, insofar as transpersonal measures imply some type of an interconnection of individuals with something beyond themselves, I consider all to be relevant to meaning. It should also be noted that all responsible intervention rests on a theoretical model and has to involve assessment to guide and evaluate it. Transpersonal psychology involves negotiating special difficulties in which proper assessment is crucial. For example, both the initial manifestation of higher consciousness and spiritual experience often share similarities 1 As an aside,
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